Thursday, 27 February 2014

X-O Manowar hit a slump during the Unity event, simply because it felt a little unnecessary. The main Unity title was telling most of the story, with X-O filling in blanks in between the next issue. Thankfully the crossover between the two titles is now over, and while this series is nowhere near as good as it once was, there has definitely been a boost in quality which gives me good feelings for what comes next.

X-O Manowar sees Aric reunited with his Manowar armour and freed from jail after the events of Unity. As an added bonus, the US Government has even secured a nice plot in Western Nebraska for Aric and his Visigoths to settle down in. But, as expected, the government isn't doing all of this for nothing. By settling in the USA and accepting Nebraska as his new home-place, Aric has unwittingly put himself in the pocket of the US government. While this new development doesn't do anything ground-breaking in this issue, it should prove interesting in issues to come with moral issues and real-world conflicts bound to play a part somewhere down the line.

Artist Cary Nord ends leaves the book with this arc, however the artwork he produced does not leave the same impact as his work on the opening issues of this series. Due to a different colourist, and what feels like a slight change in style from Nord himself, the art in this arc of the series is nowhere near as good as his previous work. The colouring isn't as defined. The faces aren't as realistic - it's disappointing work from a very capable artist.